July 2015

As of July 4, you have a namesake.  Our friends Monica and Rowan welcomed their baby girl this month, making your friend Eric a big brother.  While they were pregnant I asked if they had any names picked out and they told me Kinley was on the list, which I was completely fine with.  After she was born Monica emailed me and said "After much searching in vain for a better name, we called her Kinley."  I think it's perfect.


You are always singing.

Thanks to a fairly open door policy at school, for awhile you thought you wanted to pee standing up.

One day when I picked you up from school Miss Renee told me that you went potty all on your own without any help.  Now when I take you potty, especially at school, you sometimes tell me to wait in the hall so you can do it yourself.  In fact, we've entered the phase where you just want to do everything yourself in general.  I spend a lot of time reminding myself, "patience, patience, patience."

You are quite popular at school.  A few other moms have told me that their children have talked about you at home, and of course you tell me about some of your friends as well.  The first time that we were walking out of school and Josh yelled across the playground, "Bye Kinley," I sort of did a double take as it suddenly seemed you were so much older with friends of your own doing your own thing.  It was very sweet and made me smile.

You have started wanting to take showers instead of baths.  I wasn't entirely sure how to go about this at first, but it does go much faster and I don't mind.

I am slightly embarrassed to say that for some time now you have known a cuss word:  god dammit.  I won't go into the details of how you learned this, just that it's stuck with you and you know the appropriate times to use it.  It's become quite funny, however, when a few times you have been struggling with something and you simply give up and say "it's dammit," as though that's a perfectly reasonable descriptor for whatever object you might be referring to.

Edie stepped on a bee while we were in Olney last month.  This has stuck with you and you tell me quite regularly "Edie stepped on a bee."  You also tend to refer to all bugs as bees now and seem to have developed a general fear of flying bugs.

You have started naming everything Karen.  You have a doll that you received as a birthday present.  It never really got a name so one day you brought it in the car and I asked if you wanted to name it.  You said yes but didn't have any ideas.  I told you that you could name it whatever you wanted and threw out a few examples.  Karen was the first name I listed so that's what you chose.  Since then, we've had a number of Karens around the house.

When I try to take your picture you now say "smile" as soon as I get the camera out, except it's more like "smaaa-wole."  As a result I have dozens of pictures of your mouth open making an "a" sound.  You have also started telling me to put the camera away sometimes, which makes me feel a little guilty.

For awhile you were asking to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house, and I always told you it was very far away.  Now you simply tell me, "Grandma and Grandpa's house is very, very far away."  And when we go other places in the car you tell me things like, "Kelly's house is far away, but not as far as Grandma and Grandpa's house."  True, very true.  Kelly's house is about a 15 minute drive.  ;)

We have started playing grocery store which has been a big hit for you.  It's good for me too because it can keep you busy for a decent amount of time.  We set out all the produce in the living room, grouping similar items together and separating fruits and vegetables.  Then you get your shopping cart, grocery bags, and choose an animal to sit in the seat.  You put all the produce in your cart then push it to the kitchen where you unload the cart onto a little table and I "scan" each item and put them in your bags.  Then we load the bags into the cart and push it to your bedroom where you load the bags into your car and get in with your animal and drive "home."  Sometimes you even unload your bags into a big bowl when you get out of the car.  It's seriously adorable.

We had the pleasure of starting out this month bunny-sitting for our neighbors while they were out of town.  You loved this job and have been asking to go see Tickles on a regular basis ever since.  Thankfully we have very nice neighbors and they are happy to let us visit anytime.

You were having a lot of tummy troubles during the last half of June and beginning of July.  You are doing a lot better now but things still seem a little off to me.  I called the doctor again this week to check in and, while there doesn't seem to be anything seriously wrong, we're still trying to sort out exactly what could be the cause.  The recurring theme throughout all this has been a possible dairy intolerance.  I just haven't been able to get comfortable nailing that down as a certainty yet.

While all this was going on, you were definitely not feeling like yourself for awhile.  During that time I took to laying down with you on our bed almost daily so you could get the nap you needed (picture below, too cute for words!).  Now that you are feeling better we have progressed to almost never napping, which actually works better for me as bedtime is a much easier (and earlier!) process that way.

Your first time hiking!  You walked a short distance at the beginning, but I carried you most of the way.  We've been several times since and hope to keep it up as a regular family activity.  Daddy and I are happy to be back doing something we used to enjoy pre-parenthood.

Picnic in the park.  You love picnics and it is a great way to get us some fresh air and keep my kitchen clean so I've been trying to work them in more and more lately.

A short trip to the beach.

We were so excited to have an old friend of mine that I worked with over 4 years ago come visit us while she was in LA.  She brought her husband, mother, and most importantly, her 2 year old daughter, Emma.  Emma's birthday was just a few days before their visit so we baked her some special cookies and had a birthday balloon and small gift for her.  A couple of other old coworkers came as well and we had a great little reunion right in our kitchen.

Some days a girl just needs a fort to hang out with her animals and some books.

Playing in the sand on the balcony.  When I pick you up from preschool I always ask what you did each day and almost invariably the only answer I get from you is, "sand."  I take that to mean it's one of your favorite things.  Usually your shoes are filled with sand to prove it.

Wearing Dad's "necklace hat."

You've been asking almost daily to have a tea party.  This stemmed from a library book we had checked out a few weeks ago.  I don't mind, I think it's adorable and makes our afternoon snack more fun.  I let you pick out a tablecloth (baby blanket) each day and you set the table while I get the food ready.

The baby pool was a big hit the day the humidity hit.  You were in the pool 3 separate times that day.

By the 3rd round in the pool we were out of swimsuits and pulled out this one from your cousin Edie.  You were excited to wear it when I told you it was hers.  Still a little long in the torso but not really a terrible fit.  Please note that she wore this last summer, at age 6.

Another tea party.  I got booted so Bunny could have her chair on this day.

You are eating apples and peanut butter.  You want to eat apples and peanut butter almost every day now since that's a regular preschool snack.  Aside from "sand," "apples and peanut butter" is one of the only other things I ever hear about happening at school.

You have been loving dresses again.

I did eventually buy you an actual tea set.  It's adorable and you love it.

Playing trucks with Kelly.

First temporary tattoos.  These came with a new pair of shoes and made for good bath time entertainment on a day when you probably should have had a nap, but refused.  Some days we just have to come up with distraction tactics until bedtime to curb the whining.

Watching the horses after a hike at Will Rogers State Historic Park.  You now expect there will be horses on every hiking trail.

And off for a run in the grass before heading to the car.  I had just carried a 40 pound child on my back for 2 miles and didn't have any run left in me.

I made us a treasure hunt for a walk at Temescal Canyon Gateway Park and it was a big hit.  (I was really proud of this, can you tell?)  I printed a piece of paper with pictures of things to look for (pine cone, flower, leaf, grass, etc.) and brought a ziploc bag to collect the items and a crayon to mark of the pictures as we went.  It may have been more fun for me than for you, but we both had a good time.

All done!

Bath time at Charlotte's house.

Another hike, this time at Solstice Canyon.

Proof that I carried you most of the way.

Still smiling though.

We checked out a new park this week that I discovered on the way to your preschool.  When I parked the car the first thing you said was, "there aren't any kids at this park."  And we were the only ones there the entire time.  To me, this is not a bad thing, but my guess is we won't be going back here much.  I think you had fun, but would have rather been at the "blue playground" (Malibu Bluffs Park).

Big jump!  You've really been practicing lately.

Break for a picnic lunch under the Sycamore trees.

Swimming with Charlotte.

Raspberries I think.

Bedtime snack:  Rice Krispies of course.  You have taken to eating Rice Krispies any time of the day and you don't hesitate to get out the box and a bowl yourself and take matters into your own hands.